The Jaguars' Spot

I've made many friends throughout the years but the most inspiring and exciting friendships burst from unexpected role models.

I was the anchor last year for VCTime and got to report on some really incredible stories. One story that we covered towards the end of last year was Best Buddies.

With all honesty, some of the best students on our campus are not the ones winning awards or showing off their GPA, they are the ones with the wide smiles in Mrs. Iverson's classroom. Please don't get me wrong, I don't exclude myself from the list of successful individuals from our school but, like my fellow classmates, we don't always appreciate the beauty that life offers. We get caught up on ourselves and rarely tell others how beautiful they are.

That was how my last week started. I rushed through things just to get them done without realizing that there could be something pretty about it. However, on my way back to class after making copies I was stopped by a gorgeous smiling face.

"You are beautiful," this radiant face told me.

And that was something I hadn't heard at all in my four years at high school. No student had ever stopped me to tell me that I was beautiful. As she walked away, I called out:

"You're gorgeous too, sweetie."

I had never seen this student before but I knew exactly where I could find her because of who she was with. She was walking up to class with the rest of the Best Buddies students so that night I text Albert, who is the President of Best Buddies club, and asked when the next meeting was because I wanted to be her friend.

Best Buddies is a program on campus that works with the Life Skills students and when we interviewed them last year for VCTime I spent a wonderful few hours with these amazing kiddos. They weren't afraid to approach you and call you beautiful. They weren't afraid to stop and just appreciate simple things.

Friday I spent lunch with my new friends Lupita and Jesse and it was probably the most memorable lunch I've had all year.

I can't wait for the next Best Buddies meetings because the light that radiates from these kids gives me hope that free love and acceptance is still out there. We might think that these students need us but we truly need them more. I've never been around kinder souls.

My goal for you Jags is to just say hi or wave to one of these incredible individuals. Maybe stop by a Best Buddies meeting, maybe not. It wouldn't hurt to see more beauty in the world.

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